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Coffee Republic – London N12

Killing half an hour before going to see a performance of some Street Dance at Finchley Arts Depot ( don’t ask!) I took myself to Coffee Republic.

The coffee was pretty good, and although I had a latte:

so couldn’t really get too much of a good read on the full taste, it was way better than the other big high street players.

It’s one of the less well know of the chains and always feels like it’s still an indy and although nowhere as big as the other behemoths of the corporate coffee world, it has around 50 UK bars. It’s got a decidedly hip, New York thing going on, with a moody black and red colour scheme and seems to be the artsy, jazz, black beret and Satre vibe as opposed to the airy, laid back, bleached wood and Beach Boys California deal that Starbucks trades on; it’s NWA vs Public Enemy… in coffee.

Although, in what seemed to be a nod to the hippy fascism more redolent of West Coast USA, they had a sign above the food counter that read:

‘All our sandwiches are made with BROWN bread’

which felt like they’d left unsaid a ‘… so fuck you and your unhealthy lifestyle, buddy’ and seemed a little out of synch with the image. Maybe they’d just run out of white that day.